Nearly 400 Illegals Land on British Beaches as Government’s Rwanda Scheme Is Delayed Again

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border F
Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Nearly 400 illegal migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats from the beaches of France on Wednesday, marking the second highest daily total so far this year as the government has admitted that it’s chief deterrence policy will likely be delayed until later this year.

According to the data published by the Ministry of Defence, there had been 592 illegal migrants brought ashore at Dover this year so far. But that number jumped considerably again this week with smugglers taking advantage of calm weather in the morning on Wednesday.

Eight smugglers’ boats carried another 373 migrants across the cold and dangerous waterway on Wednesday morning. A further 31 migrants were brought back to France after their boat required rescuing, according to French authorities.

The pace is roughly on par with that of last year, when a record 45,728 crossed the English Channel, however, depending on weather conditions, January could once again see a record number make the illegal journey.

Reports have indicated that Home Office officials are expecting approximately 65,000 boat migrants to land in Britain this year, though under worst-case scenario models, it could be upwards of 80,000.

Meanwhile, it appears that the government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is content with continued delays to the oft-touted yet never implemented scheme to send boat migrants to asylum processing centres in the East African nation of Rwanda.

Although the High Court ruled in December that the policy was in fact legal, a series of appeals were immediately filed by pro-open borders organisations. It is now expected that the appeal will not be heard until later this year, meaning months more without a central deterrent in action, Sky News reported.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said on Wednesday that the appeal “will be heard later this year” adding: “We look forward to defending the government’s position once again as robustly as possible and hope, and expect, that we’ll have a similar outcome in the Court of Appeal.”

When pressed on whether the government would seek to subvert the courts and start flights before the appeal, Jenrick said: “It’s right that we await to the outcome of the British courts… then obviously the government will decide how to proceed once we have the final judgment.”

All told, it is thought by some the UK’s Conservative government will no longer exist by the time the Rwanda plan finally clears the court, and hence won’t be implemented anyway.

According to a report from GB News, the government has stepped up patrols of the beaches surrounding Dover, the port town in the east of England where the vast majority of migrants are taken ashore. The outlet reported that plainclothes military officials were patrolling the Kent beaches.

Speaking with Brexit leader Nigel Farage from the Port of Dover, GB News’ Mark White said that the reason for increased beach patrols was likely a result of Albanians not wanting to be caught and sent back home, which is another plan from the government in order to act as a deterrence.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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